Just got back from a cycling trip. It was great just to get out of the stinky house for a couple of hours, though I doubt my choice of going for a 30km trip (ouch)....

Wow! I assume you meant on a bicycle and not a motorcycle. If I went for a 30 klick bike trip, my buns would be sore from here to eternity. But it's nice seeing you get away from the mess for a while, anyway. A change of scenery can help with all you've been through lately.

Wow! I assume you meant on a bicycle and not a motorcycle. If I went for a 30 klick bike trip, my buns would be sore from here to eternity. But it's nice seeing you get away from the mess for a while, anyway. A change of scenery can help with all you've been through lately.

Yes, bicycle. My grandparents used to have a holiday home in Loosdrecht on the Breukelen side. In summer we always stayed in the "big house" and my grandparents had living quarters over the boathouse (my father's brother and sister weren't interested in staying there). I cycled my old route to Breukelen, partially along the Vecht and went back on the other side of the river. Which if you keep following it becomes the canal I live along and so end up in front of my home. It was nice to see old the old sights and a bit sad to see all the changes.

I am a bit saddle sore, not as much as I thought I would but chances are that when I wake up tomorrow I'll walk funny for a couple of hours.

I have decided to do this more often, it's not only nice to get away from the mess but I enjoy cycling on my own and there are some lovely spots along the river to sit, enjoy a picnic and read for a while. Next time I must remember to take my camera with me.

Wow! I assume you meant on a bicycle and not a motorcycle. If I went for a 30 klick bike trip, my buns would be sore from here to eternity.

If they still made bicycle seats like they did for our old Schwinn truck bikes, with the big springs under them, I 'might' consider riding a bicycle. I refuse to subject my tender parts to the miniscule, rock hard 'thing' they call today's bicycle seat!

If they still made bicycle seats like they did for our old Schwinn truck bikes, with the big springs under them, I 'might' consider riding a bicycle....

Last time I looked, you could still buy them as an add-on, but you'd be hard-pressed—no pun intended—to find one that comes stock on a new bike. The bicycles that my wife and I never ride both have them.

If they still made bicycle seats like they did for our old Schwinn truck bikes, with the big springs under them, I 'might' consider riding a bicycle. I refuse to subject my tender parts to the miniscule, rock hard 'thing' they call today's bicycle seat!

I remember when I went to secondary school I got a new bike and it was was then called a city bike, which looked a lot like a mountain bike (straight and low handle bars, so you had to lean forward) and I hated the thing. Especially the narrow and hard saddle. My father believes that the point of cycling, even for fun, is to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible and you should sit as aerodynamically on the bicycle as possible. I prefer sitting up straight so I can enjoy my surroundings.

I now have a classic Dutch bike, which has got hand brakes but you sit up straight and is nice and sturdy. I've installed a rack on the front with a small crate on it for shopping and I've got a Hemand which I can put on the back if I need to do a lot of shopping.

Sorting through clothing and such. Unlike my sister I don't want everything to be washed RIGHT NOW so I have various bin bags with thing like winter clothing (no hurry at all), comforter covers (no real hurry since I got two sets clean), assorted clothing that I hardly wear but don't want to throw away, clothing I want washed soonish and a bag with my bed spread that I need to bring to the cleaner.

My next jobs are to take apart various boxes of electronics and computer parts I seem to have collected and clean up my tea corner so that when I get a new electric kettle I can make tea again upstairs.

Sounds like you are recovering nicely. How is t he house hunting going?

It's all relative, plus you don't smell the stink yourself anymore when you've been in it a while. But I think my bedroom is relatively smell-free now.

We've put house hunting off for a while to save money. The house is now liveable. We'd rather wait a bit longer to find something we like, isn't too expensive and have some money to spend to furnish it than live in a bare, too small and too expensive apartment.

This week we started cleaning the store. Today I've started cleaning the entrance, which is very very dirty. Unfortunately with old houses comes a lot of carved woodwork (when we find our own place we've already decided to go for the smooth, easy to clean look). We (re)discovered how great our two main suppliers are. On has offered to help us restock the things that can't be cleaned at their cost-price. The other has already ordered a thousand empty, white boxes to repackage lightbulbs in (bulb is still good, the box is dirty).

Personally I've lost momentum with cleaning my rooms. My bedroom is as good as done, but I've got trouble properly starting my computer room. I've got a lot of papers and books there I have to sort what I want and/or need to keep and what can be thrown away.

Does your stores insurance cover cleaning or the down time due to cleaning?

Nope, my father thought that type of insurance was too expensive. Luckily everything we have in stock is paid for. So we won't be getting any bills of items that might need to be thrown away. Hopefully by the end of next week we can partially open again. We hope to have cleaned up the front part of enough to do so.

He says he's going to look into various insurances (the content of the living area is now insured) for the store. But considering he thinks €25 for a pair of jeans is expensive I doubt he will take out any/enough insurance.

Earlier the owner of one of the cafés came by and offered us a big air purifier for free. He had bought it a couple of years ago just a couple of months before smoking in bars and restaurants was restricted so it's almost brand new. He was planning of throwing it away but we can have it if my father helps to take it down in the café.

That is nice of him. Maybe you can help your Dad total up the cost of cleaning up, buying new stock, and being closed and compare it to the insurance rates?

Eating lunch right now.

I will, eventually. At the moment he still thinks that most of our stock can be cleaned, I'm not so sure. Hopefully when he's forced to really start throwing away stock he'll start to realize that insurance is the way to go.

I'm looking forward to the weekend. Because start extra early now I'll be done at 3pm on Saturday. I'm house sitting for friends again Saturday and Sunday so I can take a quick shower before I go, drop my stuff off, get groceries and then relax until Sunday afternoon. Reading, taking a nice long shower, watching tv and cuddling the dog.